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Tuesday, April 6, 2010

It was a gorgeous evening tonight. The white blossoms and green leaves of the Bradford pear trees were cast across the brilliant blue canvas of the sky. A frisky male cardinal shrilled loudly, trumpeting the arrival of Spring. And the smell of spaghetti sauce on the grill wafted through the air.

What? What do you mean you can't cook spaghetti sauce on a grill?

This isn't a recipe, I wasn't even planning on posting this. It was just a fun cook tonight. I took our normal spaghetti sauce outdoors.

Got the Big Green Egg up to 350f and put on the cast iron dutch oven to preheat. Then we browned Italian sausage.When the Italian sausage is almost browned, I added in our aromatics (chopped onion, peppers, and garlic).Next came the spices & stuff (oregano, basil, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, brown sugar), tomatoes and water. By now, the opening and stirring brought the Egg temp up to 400f.I let it simmer uncovered in the closed Egg until the sauce thickened almost to the consistency I wanted. Then I put the lid on the dutch oven and let it go another 10-15 minutes.

Here is the one serious tip from tonight: Ever notice how "spaghetti" is often so much better leftover than the first night? I made "leftover spaghetti". I added about 3/4 lb of cooked angel hair into the Dutch Oven, stirred it around, put the lid back on and let it sit for 30 minutes. The cast iron kept it warm and the noodles soaked up the sauce. It was perfect "leftover spaghetti" on the first night.Now if only I could figure out a way to keep those *%$&ing noodles from falling through the #(@* grill grate when I try to grill them.....

PS: I promise a real recipe is coming Friday night but this one and the next post were just me having fun.

20 comments:

I'd grill spaghetti sauce tonight if it weren't snowing like the dickens today in Denver. And I mean howling blizzard-like conditions. One of my favorite sinful things to eat for breakfast is that delicious left over spaghetti. I agree, it's great. I love your idea of left-overs in a flash.

Ha! Awesome! I do the same thing with pasta, adding it to the sauce and letting it absorb. I'm told it's the way it's usually done over in Italy, but I can't vouch for the claim. Either way, it's the best way to do it IMO.

I think this is a fantastic post. Making the sauce on the egg is a great idea, the perfect way to enjoy the good weather. I love mixing my noodles into the sauce to let the flavors mingle too - it tastes so much better that way. Your pictures are getting sooooo good! Nicely done my friend.

My husband requested that I make a doubl batch of spaghetti on purpose the other day so he could have leftovers for breakfast. At my house this means 2 pounds of angel hair pasta and a #10 can of tomato sauce. . .